Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
What type of float tank should you get? Is one objectively better than others? How would you know? Graham and Ashkahn put their opinions out there on the debate.
Show Resources
FTS Product – Float Tank Comparison Guide (Free)
FTS Blog – Should I Have One or Multiple Styles of Float Tank?
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Today’s question is three words: “pods versus cabins?” Question mark at the end.
Ashkahn: Oh. Did it say three words in the question? Or you added that?
Graham: No, I added that.
Ashkahn: It was an editorial sort of …
Graham: It was much more editorial side, yeah.
Ashkahn: Okay. I mean, it added a nice kind of dramatic effect to it.
Graham: Yeah, thanks. I’ve been trying to kind of play up these questions a little bit.
Ashkahn: Yeah, we should edit everybody’s questions.
Graham: All right, so pods versus cabins. I guess we can just turn this into pods versus cabins versus whatever the heck other type of open tanks.
Ashkahn: Different styles.
Graham: Different styles of float tank, yeah. I assume-
Ashkahn: Hold on.
Graham: Yeah?
Ashkahn: Let’s maybe break down some of the vocabulary of the different words for float tanks or pods or all that sort of stuff.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Which is partially that there is no strict vocabulary.
Graham: That’s what I was gonna say. We tend to use “float tanks” here at Float Tank Solutions, just as the generic term for float tanks.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So we use that interchangeably for everything.
Ashkahn: But you hear … people call them float tanks, float pods, float cabins, float rooms, float chambers.
Graham: Sensory deprivation tanks.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Sometimes people will say those words, and they’ll just mean whatever. They’re just calling the general concept whatever the word they prefer. Then when you actually kind of look at the different sizes and stuff like that, I usually call them, I guess … tanks and pods I usually pit in the same category myself. Other people usually distinguish those between kind of their shape. But to me, it’s like low ceiling, high ceiling, totally open room are like the three categories I kind of piece them into in my mind.
Graham: Yeah, for sure. Honestly, different manufacturers will even call their units different names.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So not only is there not an industry name for it. If you go out looking for all of the float cabins, for example, some of them might be called rooms, some still might just be called float tanks that are like tall-style float tanks.
Ashkahn: And then there’s like the Wave that is a cabin on one end and a tank on the other end. It’s pretty hard to actually firmly categorize these things.
Graham: Yeah, so don’t expect any kind of consistency in naming, I guess, when you’re going out there looking. But like Ashkahn said, I also think that there’s this smaller, lay-down-inside-it, smaller self-contained style.
Ashkahn: Like it’s the style you wouldn’t be able to fully stand up in.
Graham: Yeah. Then ones where you can stand up and ones that are just totally open and built-in.
Ashkahn: Yeah, like built into the room itself. The walls of your float tank are-
Graham: Are the walls of the room.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: All right. That said, I guess the question really is what one should I get? There’s just a question mark at the end, so I assume it’s like, what do you guys prefer? Something like that.
Ashkahn: This is a place where a lot of people have a lot of opinions. It’s a question we get a ton from people who are opening up.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: The nice thing is at our center, we have a variety and have had a variety, so we’ve kind of gotten to experience any category you can imagine. Open rooms, cabins, pods, tanks. We’ve had a slew of different types in our center. It’s interesting.
I would say, at the end of the day, ultimately I don’t think it makes as much of a difference as people think. A lot of people think it’s almost like a make or break decision for their business, in terms of what style they’re getting.
Graham: Right. We’ve seen so many businesses out there that are killing it with all old Samadhi tanks or Oasis tanks or something on the smaller side. And people out there who are killing it with really big rooms that are six feet wide and you can stand up fully inside them. Liners, no liners.
And for those of you who have actually experienced floating in a bunch of different units, you know as well, the experience inside is more similar than it is different for all of these different float tanks.
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: I guess is just our term for it.
Ashkahn: It’s dark. It’s quiet. The actual amount of space inside that you’re floating … I mean, some of them are bigger than others, but it ends up not being that crazy of a difference.
Graham: I would honestly say that having the variety of tanks for me is more important than what that variety is. I really enjoy having a couple different types of units that we can shuffle people between.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Here’s kind of been my experience with our center is I feel like, if it’s someone’s first time, not always, but sometimes they’ll tend to look at the bigger units. They just seem slightly less intimidating, if you’ve never floated before. But that could also be because we have a variety, and they can actually look at one room and see a smaller one, look in another room and see a bigger one and be like, “Oh, I want to be in the bigger one.” You might not get that effect if people don’t have anything to compare it to when they’re coming into your shop.
But I’ll notice that people will gravitate towards cabin-style or open room-style a little bit more. Not everybody. Some people will see the more pod-like ones and be like, “Oh yeah, I’m getting in that thing.”
Graham: It is true. I think that our members end up floating more regularly in our smaller tanks than our first-timers.
Ashkahn: Yeah, that’s just the first time. Then once people float that first time, after that, I find it to be all over the place. People just tend to gravitate towards the different styles for their own reasons. I’d say a lot of people just don’t care after that. They float, and they realize that the shape and size and what it looks like is not of the most importance. When they book with us in the future, they won’t really care what float tank they end up in.
Or other ones, they just really like that more cocoon-like feeling in the pod versions, or they like being able to stand up as they get in and out. Sometimes they find some other feature of that specific float tank or that model. Maybe like it just holds temperature in a certain way that’s a little bit better, and they prefer it for that reason, rather than the size or the shape or any of that other stuff.
Graham: Yeah, and there really are people who just end up having their favorite tanks.
Ashkahn: Right.
Graham: Lots of times that has nothing to do with the tank itself. It’s more the experience they’d had inside there. It was like the first float, where they really broke through or kind of had crazy visuals, and now that’s their tank for sure. Every time they come back in, room three or room four.
Ashkahn: Even at the point where rooms three and four were exactly the same, I remember a customer who like only booked in room three, and I was like, “Oh, we have room four open.”
Graham: Do you want its twin next door?
Ashkahn: They’re like, “No, no, no.” Yeah. Once again, if you expected concrete answers on something like this from us, you’re looking in the wrong place. I do think that, once again, having a variety of units as opposed to a singular one is really nice. You can do cool things too, like if someone has a bad experience in a big, open pool, you can kind of say, “Oh, well, maybe you’d like something that’s a little more womb-like or something a little more contained.”
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Kind of shift them over and vice versa. If they had a bad experience in the other one-
Graham: If we’re talking about variety, maybe a slightly different topic, but we should at least point out the downsides of variety too, which is that from operations, it can make your life more difficult. It’s basically that many more tanks that you need to have an understanding of. You need to know how the controls work. You need to know how the filtration systems work. You need to have a bunch of extra spare parts for all the different versions of everything that could go wrong and all that sort of stuff. It adds complexity to your business.
But I would say we get compliments on it as a center. People seem to like coming in and seeing that there’s a number of tanks to choose between.
Ashkahn: Yeah, basically it’s cooler for the customer, and I think gives them a reason to come back in, if they might not otherwise. If they had a bad experience in one style, there’s kind of this incentive to come try another style. It sucks on the back end. So it’s just a decision to make your life harder, so that your customers are a little happier.
Graham: Yeah, I guess, really at the end of the day, I would say I don’t think the difference in aesthetics or size of the float tanks matter as much as people think they do. I think you can run a successful business with any of them. I think the differences are how many customers you’re gonna gain or lose or whatever. Based off of that idea of the shape and size of your float tank is not quite as pronounced or significant as people think it is before they go to open their centers.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I would agree with that. So there you have it. A little more than three words for your answer. If you have any of your own questions and want to send them in, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How do you Start Opening a Float Center? – DSP 285
For people just starting out, it can seem really daunting to start a float center. They may not even know where to begin.
Graham and Ashkahn tackle this idea head on. The most important thing is to do a lot of research (definitely check the resources) and to make sure you have people that you can call and refer to for support when you need it.
What to do When Floaters Interrupt Intros? – DSP 284
Ashkahn’s back and on form. He and Graham take on the question of how to handle first time floaters interrupt the pre-float intros explaining the process.
There’s a lot of information that first time floaters need, and if they aren’t paying attention, it can cause messy floats or unnecessary difficulty or confusion. The reunited duo provides some great tips while going over different customer scenarios.
When is the Best Time to Open a Float Center? – DSP 283
Graham takes the helm again without any co-captain to steer the SS Daily Solutions through the rugged storms of float industry questions.
Today he answers a question about when the best time of year to open your float center. The important thing to remember is that, whenever you choose, you should plan for even earlier, as float centers are more likely to get delayed in construction.
Tips for Choosing Contractors – DSP 282
Graham the Lone Podcaster takes the reigns on answering how to pick a contractor for float center build out.
It’s the kind of big decision that every float center owner hopes to only make once, so getting as much information ahead of time is extremely useful. Graham breaks down some useful tips and explains how to ask for a bid, specific skill sets to look for, and general advice on knowing when to walk away.
Starting your Pumps Early – DSP 281
In this episode, Graham goes solo again to answer a particularly loquacious listener who sent in a question about how to logistically handle your changeover when a floater comes out early.
It can be tempting to start your changeover as soon as possible, especially if you have a few of them to get to, but Graham lays out some helpful things to remember before flipping that switch and running your pumps before the allotted time.
Latest Blog Posts
4,937 Things to Know About Buying a Used Float Tank
You’re thinking about buying a used float tank. Whether this is for a new center, an addition to an existing operation, or a purchase for your home, this is a big decision.
We’ve compiled together some of the major questions and considerations to entertain before making a purchase. While you do have the opportunity to save some money and snag a good deal, there can be hidden costs and unknowns to weigh against those savings.
Offering Overnight Floats
Almost three years ago, we discussed the merits of running overnight floats from an employee’s perspective, focusing on the opportunities of this unique experience as well as its challenges. We’d like to take a deeper dive into this issue because, while the majority of floaters come through our tanks during “normal” business hours, overnight floats form an important part of not only Float On’s identity, but also its business structure and broader culture.
How to Talk About Floating
You step into the elevator and shuffle to the side to make room for the kind-eyed, old woman with the miniature poodle.
“Good morning,” you say with a smile.
“Good morning,” she beams back, her gaze resting briefly on your water bottle with the logo from your float center’s annual party.
After a brief pause, she asks, “What is Float-a-Palooza?”
You take a breath, smile, and launch into your literal elevator pitch.
So, what do you say?
Employee Handbook Template
Whether you are a small or large float center, you most likely have other employees working for you. Regardless of the size of your staff, for reasons of efficiency and legality, it’s essential that your organization has clear and straightforward policies and guidelines. No matter how good employee communication is, it’s always safest and cleanest to have clear parameters and expectations written down.
This is why Float Tank Solutions has created a customizable Employee Handbook Template. Free for anyone to download, it contains federally compliant language (current as of October 2016) and contains a multitude of sections, from employee benefits and compensation descriptions to job guidelines and discrimination policies.
